


Outer Sunset & the Many Hells

by TigerLilyNoh



Series: The Uncomfortable Adventures of Sam in Law School [10]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bisexual Sam, Demons, Gen, Law Student Sam, Sam Winchester's Demonic Powers, Sam Winchester's Visions, Sam Winchester-centric, Sam-Centric, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-19
Updated: 2017-06-19
Packaged: 2018-11-15 23:59:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11241999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TigerLilyNoh/pseuds/TigerLilyNoh
Summary: Series theme: Sam chose law school over hunting, but it wasn't exactly how he'd imagined it.This ficlet: Sam visits an expert on demons in order to learn about his visions.





	Outer Sunset & the Many Hells

After grabbing supplies from Stacy's place, the two of them hopped on a trolley across town.  Sam was more than a little nervous for the day ahead of them.  With a bit of luck he was on his way to making his first connection with the flip side that wasn't part of Stacy's coven.  He felt like he was maybe diving into the deep end of the pool, but they needed a demon expert and apparently that was a very limited number of humans.  Stacy had tried to lay out the pros & cons of everyone they could potentially reach out to, and somehow this was their best option.

“Okay, so things might get weird.”  Stacy warned as she took the window seat in a back row of the trolley car.

“Weird by your standards?”  Sam sat down next to her.  He was listening to her, but at the same time he watched the other passengers for threats.  It wasn't likely that any of them were hunters or the like, yet he felt particularly vulnerable wandering out into the unknown.

“Yeah, like I said, weird.”  Stacy turned to face him to emphasize the next point.  “We’re going into another coven’s territory- this isn't like shooting in the streets bad, but we might be asked to leave.  Depending on the mood we might just call it then & there.  You don't want to push your luck with hexers on their land.”

“I'm just following your lead.”

“If we can get a meeting with someone, we try to keep it short & sweet.  Technically, I'm not supposed to be there on business and I don't want word getting around.”

“Is this gonna get you in trouble?”

“My coven knows I'm helping you with this, but I don't really want it getting out that I'm hanging with Sunset.  It might make things strained with everyone else.”

“What's the deal with the covens?”  To his ears it sounded like there was a whole diplomatic aspect to the covens and he didn't want to walk in completely blind.  “Do all covens fight- like is this normal or did something happen?”

“It's sorta normal.  It's dangerous to have too many covens close together.  You put all that magic in one place and signals get crossed, you get wacky side effects- not to mention the hunters notice.”  She gestured at the narrow houses beyond the trolley window.  “Aside from New York, we’re the most tightly packed city in the U.S.  So we got some problems.  And then a few years ago one of the Sunsets narced on Tenderloin.  One of Tenderloin’s real up & coming witches got arrested- fucking tragedy if you ask me.  I guess it’s better than getting killed, but still.  Everything's been delicate since.”

“What was she arrested for?”

“He.”  Stacy corrected.  “Trafficking endangered animal parts.”

“Ah.”  Sam nodded.  He could see where witches might be predisposed to those sorts of charges.

“Also, it doesn't help that Sunset’s coven is demon bound-”

“Demon bound?”

“They get part of their power from a deal with a demon.  They give it sacrifices or their souls or something- I don't really know how that whole thing works.”

“Is it really a good idea to be talking to them if they work with demons?”  Sam shifted at the thought of interacting with people who were intimately familiar with demons.  He'd just been hoping for someone with solid academic knowledge.

“Well if anyone is gonna know what's going on with your aura shadow thing it's them.”  Stacy shrugged.  “I doubt they'll screw you.  Nobody wants this whole truce going sideways.”

“Truce?  I thought things were tense?”

“The truce is what gets us a warning before we get kicked out.  Two years ago, right after the shit hit the fan, I would've just gotten my ass fried and you'd get a not so friendly reminder to fuck off- well, maybe not you specifically on account of your whole demony vibe- not sure if they'd have let you slide or what.  Sunset coven, a batty little crew.”

“So there's Chinatown, Tenderloin, & Sunset covens?”  Sam double checked his understanding of the situation.

“Those are the big three in the city, but there are some free agents floating around- nothing big enough to make a power grab.”  Stacy explained. “Oakland has two big covens- Uptown & West.  Then there's the rich Palo Alto preps.  In the South Bay there's the Little Saigon coven & Little Portugal coven- I don't understand how a coven full of Catholics works, but whatever.  Then you've got the hippies down in Santa Cruz, they're actually pretty fun, just don't drink their special kombucha cause you'll wake up naked in the forest like four days later covered in henna & chicken blood.”

“Noted.”  Sam pulled a bottle of anti-anxiety meds from his jacket pocket, then popped a pill.  He noticed her staring at him, which made him smile self-consciously.

“Don't worry, you’ll be fine.”  Stacy assured.  “Pretty white guy with a demon marked soul, Sunset will probably want to recruit you.”

“I- uh…” Sam glanced around the trolley to see if anyone had heard her, but no one appeared to find their discussion noteworthy.  “If they try to recruit me, how do I tell them no?”

“Politely.”

* * *

They'd hardly been off muni for any time at all when Sam noticed a flock of seagulls circling above them as they walked through the residential neighborhood.  He could smell the ocean air, so the birds weren't entirely out of place- though he noticed that they followed him & Stacy for more than a block.  As ambiguous as the seagulls maybe have been, the tabby cat that quickly approached him felt rather pointed.  The cat rubbed against his leg affectionately, then hissed at Stacy.

“Well that was fast.”  Stacy said as she looked at her iPhone.  “Two minutes, new record.”

“Are they familiars or-” Sam started to ask, but before he could finish a group of two women & a man turned a corner and walked toward them with purpose.  Sam reflexively looked for signs of hidden weapons, then reminded himself who he was dealing with.  The female witch on the right in the Lululemon yoga pants was potentially just as dangerous as someone with a gun.  “Leave or stay?”

“Stay, they have to give us a verbal warning.”  Stacy assured, then raised her hands toward the group in a sign of non-hostility.  When the group was only twenty feet away she spoke before they could start making threats.  “White flag.  Non-coven business.”

“What do you want?”  The male witch demanded while sizing them up.  

Sam wasn't sure whether it made more sense for him to try making himself appear smaller & less assertive or to stand at his full height.  This was an entirely new situation and he didn't feel particularly confident.  Thinking about it, he wouldn't have been surprised if witches were less inclined to fall for those little psychological tricks- What did they care if he was a head taller than them if physicality didn't play a role in their normal fighting style?  He opted to let his insecurity show, hopefully disarming them or maybe even playing to their sympathy.

“He isn't a witch.  I'm just trying to help him get some answers.”  Stacy tilted her head toward Sam, causing them to stare at him thoughtfully for several seconds.  The woman in the yoga pants subtly gestured at him as if trying to indicate something to her colleagues and the others nodded to her in acknowledgment.  “I thought you guys might be the right people for him to talk to.”

“He can come-” The second female witch started.

“I'm sorry, but I'm not going alone.”  Sam said.  “She comes with me or we'll just leave.”

The unexpected ultimatum caused the three witches to turn away slightly before whispering between themselves.  After a bit of debate the witch in the yoga pants snapped her fingers and the seagulls immediately flew off.  The three witches turned back to address Stacy & him.

“Come with us.”

* * *

They ended up at a tiny corner coffee shop with a minimalist modern aesthetic.  Rather than going inside, the witches led them around to the side of the building where three small sets of white metal tables & chairs were arranged along the sidewalk.  There was only one person seated there, a dainty woman of Central Asian descent with greying hair pulled back in a thick braid.  She wore a plum shalwar kameez with copper accents.  Despite the sound of their footsteps, she didn't bother looking up from her iPad Mini.

“Sit.”  The woman gestured at the chair across from her.  Sam reluctantly took a seat as she turned off her tablet and set it down on the table.  As soon as he was seated the tabby jumped up onto Sam’s lap and began purring.  After a moment’s hesitation he began petting the cat, earning a few affectionate licks.  “Tell me your name.”

“Sam.”

“Hello, Sam.”  The woman smiled politely at him.  “I'm Bhavya.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Stacy's straighten slightly at Bhavya’s name.  Evidently she had a reputation.  One of the witches that had led them there came out of the coffee shop carrying two espressos and placed them down onto the table in front of Sam & Bhavya.

“Thank you, but I'm fine.”  Sam declined.

“How old are you?”  Bhavya asked as she poured a small amount of sugar into her cup.

“23.”

“You're too young to be worrying over the caffeine.”  She suggested, then added a bit more directly.  “There are easier ways to poison you.  So drink the damn espresso before it gets cold.”

He picked up the tiny cup, then took a sip.  Part of him was expecting it to taste off, having been spiked with something, but it seemed unadulterated.  As he drank his espresso, Bhavya studied him with a mildly amused smile on her face.  Between the Sunset coven’s association with demons and her seeming position of authority, he wouldn’t have been surprised in she was already picking apart nuances of his demonic aura.

“Now caffeine when you get to be my age- well…”  The woman shook her head slightly.  “ _Very_ few people ever get to be my age.  It takes a strong stomach.”

“The kind a triple shot of espresso doesn't bother.”  Sam commented, earning a grin & nod.

“Among other less savory things.” She added, then turned her attention to the real issue at hand.  “So what brings a _divine_ creature like you to my table on this beautiful day?”

He didn't like her word choice.  

“I…”  He hesitated.  Deep down he knew that he’d have to confide the fact that he gets visions if he was ever going to get some answers, but it still scared the hell out of him.  She was a stranger with motives that he wasn’t privy to in the slightest- yet the covens felt like they had some minimal amount of honor or at least accountability, they’d adhered to some basic rules of a truce.  Since he was being escorted by a member of the Chinatown coven, her screwing him over would potentially jeopardize that balance.

“Go ahead,”  She invited.  “I don’t bite.”

“I get visions and I'm told there's a…”  Sam felt uncomfortable saying it aloud.  “There's a demon’s shadow on my soul.”

“Your soul is something truly splendid.”  She set down her half drunk espresso, then leaned back in her chair.  “You want answers?”

“Yes.”

“I don't have all of them by any means, but I’m inclined to help you-”

“Why?”  He felt a bit silly for distrusting her help after seeking it out, but he didn’t know her.  He’d been expecting to make some sort of trade, though he wasn’t sure what he had to offer her aside from his gratitude & up to $560.

“My favorite kind of asset is being able to call upon gifted people for favors.”  

“I don’t control my visions.”  He wanted to get that on the record so that she wasn’t laboring under the false assumption that he was useful to her.

“That doesn’t bother me as much as you might think.”  Bhavya shrugged off the complication with an ease that he found slightly unnerving, but before he could ask a follow up question she’d already started pushing ahead.  “How much do you know about demons?”

“Almost nothing.”  He decided to err on the side of ignorance.  It was true that he knew little about demons, but relaying the few warnings that his dad had instilled in him might very well offend her.  Her coven was somehow involved with at least one demon, though he wasn't sure of the exact nature of the relationship.  He wasn’t about to start burning his bridges by insulting demons.

“Then I'll start with the basics.”  She offered.  “There are many Hells, more than are known.  But for certain there are the Hells of fire, of ice, of darkness, of blood, Avichi- the endless Hell-”

Sam shifted in his seat, suddenly unsure he was meeting with the right person.  He'd heard of demons and he knew they came from Hell, but he'd never heard of that being reconciled with some multiplanar theory of Hell.  It sounded a bit far fetched.

“I've only ever heard of the one Hell- I mean except for researching other myth-”  As soon as he'd started saying ‘mythology’ he knew it was the wrong move.  His chest tightened as he internally cringed, bracing for some sort of offended reaction- hopefully the kind that didn’t involve long term physical trauma.

“Boy, I suggest you leave your Sunday school stories of the boogeyman & the Easter Bunny at the door.”  Her tone had turned a bit harsh, but in an instant she was back to her calmer cautionary demeanor.  “You're standing on the threshold of a very big world.  Don't take that first step with your eyes shut.”

“I'm sorry.”  Sam nodded apologetically, though he still wasn’t sure what to think of the turn in the conversation.  “Please continue.”

“Your ‘one Hell’ is just the Hell set out before you.  Every person walks their own path, making their choices, arguing with more experienced witches, carrying the burdens of the past from here back to the beginning.”

“The beginning?”

“Of time.”  

He stared at her dumbfounded for a moment.  This was not the conversation he’d been expecting to have when he’d headed up to San Francisco a few hours earlier.  He was looking for insight on how he might’ve gotten some demonic aura on him and she was talking about events going back to the dawn of time.  He was trying to be open minded about everything, but the way she was talking...

“You're talking about karma?”  

“I'm talking about soft causality.”  She offered as a more palatable phrasing.  “All the beings in the universe are like reeds in a gentle breeze- others will push you, but you can still push others.”

“Isn't that just one force helplessly hitting another?  There isn't anything soft about it.”  His question made one corner of her mouth curl up.

“Tell me Sam, did you go to college?”

“Yes.”

“You weren't a philosophy major, were you?”

“Pre-law.”

“An artisan of arguing, but little flexibility of faith.”  Bhavya commented before finishing her espresso.  “It's a true shame you've placed yourself at such a disadvantage- you seem so full of potential.”

“How am I disadvantaged?”

“Well, for starters I expect you want to go to Heaven- I expect you think you deserve to go to Heaven, because you're a good person.”

Her statement stunned him.  He’d been so caught up trying to get over his knee jerk reactions to talk of multiple Hell dimensions and karma that he hadn’t thought about Heaven or how any of this might hypothetically affect him.  She thought he was gonna go to Hell or something when he dies.  The thought made his shame flare and memories started coming to the surface- all the times growing up when he’d felt unclean or not good enough.  There had been so many things that he’d attributed those feelings to, when he was younger it was his attraction to men, later on it was his small part in so much violence- but maybe there was more to that haunting feeling of wrongness.

“I believe- I grew up believing in Heaven.”  Sam wasn't sure what he was trying to ask.  It was all too confusing.  “You're telling me I'm going to go to Hell when I die?”

“A demon has laid claim to your soul and that’s a very difficult thing to overcome.  But don’t let that upset you too much.  Heaven isn't what you were led to believe.  It's plane & prison just like so many others.”  Bhavya leaned forward, then lowered her voice to emphasize her next point.  “It’s fine to have faith if it gives you strength, but beware of those who will try to control you through it.  It’s those things closest to us that make us most vulnerable, easy to manipulate.”

“With respect, doesn't your demon manipulate you?”

“A clever boy indeed.  Asuri & I have a symbiotic relationship.  I revere her and she shows me great truths.”  She replied apparently unoffended by the question, then paused a moment to assess Sam.  “You could do great things with the right demon supporting you.”

“I don't know anything about interacting with demons.”  He wanted to discourage her from whatever she might be envisioning for his future.

“That’s interesting because you seem to have an affinity with them.”  

When Sam furrowed his brow in confusion Bhavya nodded toward the tabby on his lap.  The cat nuzzled his hand, licking his wrist.  Its eyes were thin slits of feline contentment, but when he stopped petting the cat it looked up at him expectantly with two solid black eyes.  For a split second he wanted to jump up from his seat, knocking the cat off of him, but that would’ve undoubtedly caused a problem.  His fingers stopped moving for several seconds as the shock rolled off of him.  The cat purred loudly, then rubbed his head against Sam's palm until he gingerly resumed scratching the its chin.

“I… I’ve never interacted with a demon before.”

“I find that hard to believe.  A soul like yours doesn't happen by chance.”  Bhavya countered.  “A demon has pushed you down a path and the question is where it leads- what Hell is it driving you towards?”

Having looked a demon in the eyes, even an apparently benevolent one, it somehow made it more real.  There was a demon sitting there with them, not correcting Bhavya’s explanation.  He wasn’t sure what to think.  He wasn’t sure any of it made enough sense for him to begin parsing.  He wasn’t even sure whether he trusted the judgment of a demon that would choose to possess a cat- hell, he wasn’t sure whether he trusted a demon’s judgement period.  Yet regardless of all those doubts, the questions started flowing.

“If there are many Hells, what's a demon?  How did one push me?  What does it want from me?”

“There are three different creatures that lay people call demons.”  She started with some foundational knowledge.  “The Abyssal are the pure demons, born a demon.  The Infernal are human souls that have suffered torment in one of the Hells, but haven't yet completed their transformations into a new life.  And the Anathema are still living creatures that have been corrupted into something unnatural.”

“The aura on me-”

“I saw that the moment you turned that corner.”  Bhavya smiled at him.  “An Abyssal has gifted you a piece of its power, maybe more.”

“How?  Why?”

“There are many ways to share power- other ways to take it.  I'm not sure why the Abyssal might've done it.  You do have a mark on you, and a very powerful one at that.”  

She leaned forward and reached across the table toward his head.  After a moment’s hesitation he leaned in so that she could reach him.  When her hand touched his left temple he could feel a cold tingling spread from the point of contact down his neck & back.  Dozens of the visions he’d experienced over the last few weeks flickered rapidly through his mind.  It didn’t produce the usual pain, but seeing them all again, even for hardly a few second, was deeply upsetting.  

When she let go of him he could feel a few tears slide down his cheeks, but he didn’t reach up to wipe them away.  His hands were gripped on the table’s edge for some stability.  The cat stood up on his lap and moved to lick the tears from his chin, but Sam turned his head away.  He stared at the street’s asphalt, avoiding eye contact with everyone until he could collect himself enough to continue.  As much as he wanted to leave the uncomfortable interaction, he wasn’t done yet.   

“I’m sorry this is painful for you.”  Bhavya said in a tone that had turned surprisingly gentle.  “You seem to have an affinity for the moments when Hells intersect & act upon our world.  That can be a difficult place to exist even for a moment, but seeing it over & over again… It takes considerable strength to carry that.”

“I’m not strong.”

“What did I say about arguing with more experienced witches.”  Bhavya countered, making Sam huff a weak laugh.  He pursed his lips and tried to gather his courage to continue.  

“My visions, they're mostly of people dying.”

“They're of people crossing into their next plane.  You just haven't learned to look beyond the physical.”   Bhavya smiled, then lightly patted the back of his hand.  “Your sight is still very narrow.  Maybe someday you’ll be able to see the demons themselves working their influence?  Or maybe you’ll be able to see where everyone’s life intersect with the afterlife?  But for now I suspect that you can only see those who are pushed by the same forces as you.”

“I don't understand what that means.”

“Psychic connections like these, gifted by a demon, they are easiest to use when you rely on that connection- the demon.  You almost certainly share this demon or its kind in common with these people.”

“They’re dying.”  He felt a bit lightheaded thinking about Dr. Vu trying to locate his next of kin.  “Almost all of them are young people and they’re dying- mostly violently.”

Bhavya nodded.  She’d probably seen the visions as they’d flickered through his mind.  She already knew the bleak scenario he was suggesting.

“It’s likely that your lives are being collected by the same force, shepherded to the same destination- In a way, I suppose something is hunting you.”  Her words shook him, hitting too close to home in the middle of such an unsettling conversation.  “That doesn't mean you can't change your future, only that for now your path coincides with those in your immediate visions.”

He thought about all the people who’d died in his visions, dozens of people- Jessica.  If what Bhavya was saying was true, she’d probably been killed by the same demonic influence that had somehow given him these visions.  The demon or whatever it was had been in the area roughly two years earlier when it had killed her- even before that.  He’d been having what were likely visions that he’d mistaken for violent thoughts for years.  They were part of the reason he’d left his family-

Sam had had a vision of Dean about two months earlier, before he’d known the images were real.  Dean hadn’t died, but he’d killed someone.  He couldn’t tell what role the demon had had in that moment, whether the real moment of significance was the man dying and Dean was there by coincidence or if there was something else.  Regardless of whatever animosity there might be between them, Sam did still worry about his brother, and the hopefully glancing interaction with a demon was worrying.

“Can I save them?”  Sam asked desperately.  “The people from my visions, the ones who’re alive.”

“Remember, _soft_ causality.  You can change the world, whether you can save them…”  Bhavya thought for a moment.  “That's for time to tell.”

“How do I figure out the demon connecting us when there hasn’t been a common link in their murders and that’s all I’m seeing?  For the visions where they don’t die, how do I know what’s important?  If something’s really hunting me, how can I stop it?”

“I don't know-”

“But you know about demons-” She held her hand up silencing him.  He hadn’t realized it, but in his eagerness he'd leaned forward and started raising his voice.  The whole thing was getting to him and he didn't even know how much of it he believed- evidently at least a little bit if it was scaring him so much.

“You remind me of my son, Rajat.  He was a good boy, very bright too, and curious about everything.  When he was young I used to read him stories and at every turn he would have a question about what was coming.  ‘Ma, does the princess escape the dungeon?’ ‘Will the knight kill the beast?’ ‘Does the holy girl free the ghost?’”  Bhavya smiled a bit at some fond memory.  “He would try to rush the story, then when we’d jump ahead to the end he'd ask ‘Is that all there is?’  The unknown is frightening, but it's a natural part of life.  Investigate and ask your questions, just don't charge blindly after answers or you might overlook the million important things between now & then.”

“You’re telling me that something is hunting me and then you’re telling me to slow down.”

“I’m tell you that I don’t have all the answers.  It’s very possible that you’re the one who will have to find your truths.”  She gave him an apologetic half-shrug.  “We each walk a unique path, impacted by countless variables.  Listen to advice, research what you can, but be critical and trust yourself because your instinct might be the only way for you to navigate this whole mess.”

“If I need to do my own research, how do I start looking for information on the Hells & demons?”  

She stared at him for a long while, internally debating something.  After a long silence she picked up her ipad, then started tapping through various screens that he couldn't see.  When she was done she handed it across the table to him.  He'd expected to see a website or maybe an ebook that she was recommending, but instead it was on the home screen.  He looked up at her confused.

“It has almost 32GB of books & articles on interplanar theory & demons.”  Bhavya explained.  “I expect it back sometime this year.”

“I couldn't-”

“Take the damn thing.  I have two others.”

“Thank you.”  Sam shook his head slightly at the inadequacy of his statement.  “I don't know how to thank you.”

“Oh, I’m sure someday we’ll find a way.”  

“And if I have more questions after I’m done reading the stories?”

“The clever ones always do.  Then you’re welcome to chat with me.  Speaking of which, you're welcome to stay and join us for sabbath.”  Bhavya invited Sam, then tilted her head to indicate Stacy.  “Not her.  You'd have to come alone.”

“She's my friend-”

“Friends are an investment.  You should choose yours wisely.”

Sam glanced up at Stacy, who’d been silently watching the conversation.  He was being offered the chance to put his loyalties in with the Sunset coven rather than the Chinatown coven.  Bhavya seemed to be very knowledgable about many things even if she didn’t have all the answers he was looking for in that moment.  Yet Stacy’s coven & family had gone above & beyond to help him back when he didn’t really have much to offer them in return.  As nice as Bhavya was being to him, she’d told him explicitly that she wanted to be able to call on him for favors- not to mention she had an interest in all things demonic, among which he was now included.  Even if she sincerely liked him, she almost certainly had ulterior motives.

“I'm grateful for your help.”  He chose his words carefully, knowing perfectly well that he was walking a delicate diplomatic line.  “I don't mean any disrespect to you or your coven, but I'm new to all of this and I'm sure you can understand why I have to be cautious.”

Sam wasn’t sure if it was still appropriate for him to borrow the tablet of resources while putting such a visible limitation of their budding relationship- turning down the invitation may have even been a slight.  He hesitantly held the ipad back out to her, but she didn’t move to accept it.

“I’m not going to take back my offer just because you’re justifiably scared.  Take it, study until you’re a bit less scared, and you know where to find me if you’d like to explore some of that delightful potential you have.”

“Thank you.”

Sam moved a little bit to try encouraging the cat to get off of his lap, but it rolled onto its back and stretched its paws playfully up at him.  Bhavya watched with a distinctly amused expression on her face as Sam tried to figure out how to politely remove the demonic tabby.  He carefully picked up the cat, setting it down on the table between Bhavya & himself.  Before he could withdraw his right hand the cat rubbed its forehead against his palm trying to elicit more petting.

“I'm sorry, but I need to go.”  Sam told the cat.  

He didn't know if he felt more uncomfortable with the idea of expecting a cat to understand English or the idea that he was scratching a demon behind its ear.  The cat licked his wrist, then turned and hopped down onto Bhavya’s lap.  

“A quick word of warning before you go.”  Bhavya added.  “If you ever meet an angel, run.  They don’t much care for creatures like us.”

“I haven’t done anything-”  Sam started, surprised that she would suggest him as a target for angels.

“I don’t doubt that.  Unfortunately, in my experience... that doesn’t stop them from killing good boys like you.”

“I’m… I’m sorry.”

“You’re young, despite all those scars on your soul.”  Bhavya started petting the tabby.  “The universe is very complicated and I know that can be frightening at times, but if you want to survive in this brave new world don't mistake clarity for accuracy.  Enjoy the books, Sam.”

He took the cue to leave and nodded in parting to Bhavya before walking with Stacy back to the transit stop.  His fingers tightly clutched the ipad, terrified to drop or lose it.

“That was insane.”  Stacy whispered to him when they were outside of the Sunset coven’s territory.

“You don't buy what she was saying?”  Sam asked.

“No, I’d take that as gospel.”  Stacy replied.  “Bhavya is their matriarch.  I just can't believe we met her.  Supposedly, she's around four hundred years old.”


End file.
